THE move by the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct random audits of asset declarations filed by election candidates is a long overdue step. The whole exercise of filing asset declarations by all elected representatives is a legal requirement for good reason, and not just a procedural formality. Elected members have been treating it casually thus far, with many failing to even fulfil the condition of filing asset declarations of their spouses and dependants as required by the law. Thus far, all declarations have been simply filed away, and old ones even removed from the ECP website. This turns the entire exercise into a meaningless formality, because the declarations submitted stand in stark contrast to the visible lifestyles that many of the lawmakers lead. For instance, several among them claim to not own a car, yet they are seen moving around in a motorcade. Clearly, these people are making full use of assets that they are unwilling to disclose in writing, raising obvious questions.

Hopefully, the ECP will not take this obligation lightly. Auditing asset declarations will require specialised expertise, as well as a rigorous selection methodology that must be truly and transparently random. If the names of important legislators from the ruling party should come up during the selection exercise, they will need to be pursued as vigorously as those of anybody else. If the exercise turns out to be weak, or is viewed as a tool to victimise political opponents, it will simply add to the pointless bickering that fuels so much of our political culture. Clearly, it will not be easy to avoid these pitfalls.

It would also be a good idea to monitor election expenses more vigorously. The same law that mandates the asset declarations also places a ceiling on how much candidates contesting the elections are allowed to spend. That ceiling is currently set at Rs1.5 million for national and Rs1m for a provincial assembly seat. But going by the kind of cash that is spent in some constituencies, for example the NA-122 by-election last year, which saw obscene amounts of money and gifts being showered upon the electorate, candidates are still able to assert they stayed within the ceiling by claiming that the funds were spent by their ‘supporters’. Likewise, they get away with declaring negligible assets and claiming that the lifestyle they are seen living is paid for by others, including family members. Clearly, money raised from rackets is playing a growing role in politics, and in turn political power is being used to support and maintain these rackets as a quid pro quo. This is the jugular vein of contemporary Pakistani politics, and if the ECP wants to take action, it must do so in a strong and credible manner.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2016